Has anyone hit a goal weight in the 19-25 BMI range after large (75lb+) weight loss?

[hypnosisguy]

Though I've never had bariatric surgery, I've followed the literature on it, mostly because it is a wonderful source for studies of populations that lose large amounts of weight and keep it off for a period of years. For example, one important result is that losing weight does seem to have large health benefits that people always suspected it would. We all knew that being normal-weight all our lives is healthier, but it didn't necessarily follow that losing weight to get there would give the same results. Happily, it turns out that losing weight is good for you!

However, one disappointing result of these studies is that maximum weight loss seems to be limited for bariatric surgery patients. For example, see Weight Loss Prediction after Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The easiest equation to use there is Minimum BMI = Initial-BMI * 0.43 + 11. It also links a calculator that can be used to get predictions.

With GLP1s, I notice many more people writing about losing weight than are talking about maintenance. There are different explanations for why that might be. But it does make me wonder if Maximum Expected Weight Loss with glp1s is likely similar to that Initial-BMI * 0.43 + 11 equation for different starting BMIs (calulcated in the following table). If this is true, I would expect to see people getting somewhat close to their predicted BMI and then plateauing, even on large doses of GLP1 drugs.

Starting BMI	Predicted minimum BMI
50	32.5
45	30.5
40	28
35	26

 

[GroundBison]

I went from a BMI of 46 to 21/22 after bariatric surgery (-156 lbs). Drifted up to BMI 24ish after ~5 years and used tirz to get down to my current 18.5/19. Not sure if I could have lost that much on tirz alone.

 

[DwightTheDelight]

I was able to hit a high 26 BMI from a starting BMI of 54 or 444.8lbs > 209.8lbs. I think I'd be 200 or so with skin removal on my stomach. I'm super motivated and have been almost the entire 700 days on, but at the same time I feel a bit lucky, because my wife and mom weren't able to continue losing down to their goal weights and have actually rebounded a bit from their low weights - about 20lbs each, despite still taking their shots.

 

[keangkong]

Though I've never had bariatric surgery, I've followed the literature on it, mostly because it is a wonderful source for studies of populations that lose large amounts of weight and keep it off for a period of years. For example, one important result is that losing weight does seem to have large health benefits that people always suspected it would. We all knew that being normal-weight all our lives is healthier, but it didn't necessarily follow that losing weight to get there would give the same results. Happily, it turns out that losing weight is good for you!

However, one disappointing result of these studies is that maximum weight loss seems to be limited for bariatric surgery patients. For example, see Weight Loss Prediction after Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The easiest equation to use there is Minimum BMI = Initial-BMI * 0.43 + 11. It also links a calculator that can be used to get predictions.

With GLP1s, I notice many more people writing about losing weight than are talking about maintenance. There are different explanations for why that might be. But it does make me wonder if Maximum Expected Weight Loss with glp1s is likely similar to that Initial-BMI * 0.43 + 11 equation for different starting BMIs (calulcated in the following table). If this is true, I would expect to see people getting somewhat close to their predicted BMI and then plateauing, even on large doses of GLP1 drugs.

Starting BMI	Predicted minimum BMI
50	32.5
45	30.5
40	28
35	26

With current medications and weight loss surgeries, people generally lose more from surgery. I suspect as medications continue to improve, there will be less need for surgeries.

 

[ruisenor]

I dropped from 243 and ~40% BF to 165 and 11% BF, currently holding at 172 for 3 months on maintenance dose of Reta. I could have continued loosing but hit and exceeded my goal weight.

 

[hypnosisguy]

I dropped from 243 and ~40% BF to 165 and 11% BF, currently holding at 172 for 3 months on maintenance dose of Reta. I could have continued loosing but hit and exceeded my goal weight.

What's your height? Just so I can compare to my BMI numbers. And I'd also be interested in what your maintenance dose is.

 

[lessthanhalf]

I have not read much of the literature on bariatric surgery, but have read a lot of papers on GLP's. I think the research would agree that most severely overweight people are not going to get to BMI's of 25 or less, the best so far is about 25% weight loss from retatrutide, or at least that is the average result, but by definition 50% are going to lose less than that. And without maintenance medication most people will put the weight back on over time. It is a problem even after weight loss surgery.

The people on this forum are a self selected group that are highly motivated, and prepared to do a fair bit of work to achieve weight losses. That is the best I can come up with for why a lot more people on this forum are not getting stuck half way to their goals. And of course a fair few are "cheating" by adding in higher doses or an extra bit of another medication or some testosterone or some hgh or an alpha msh agonist. From what I have seen in the studies and especially the steifel obesity report, the drug companies are more or less going down the same track, developing add on medications, with some promising results for embosarm and some myostatin inhibitors, plus amylin agonists combined with GLP's etc. I think once people get the idea that obesity is maybe a treatable problem there will be huge demand for increasingly effective therapies, plus of course the billions or even trillions of dollars they could make, with a potential market of up to a third of the world's population.

I am exclusively taking them for maintenance having lost the bulk of the weight without GLP's, from 145kg to 75 or so about 2 years ago. I then found out that low dose ozempic was not expensive in Australia, and tried that but it made me nauseous for a year. Then swapped to Tirzepatide thinking I could use a very low dose without the price being impossible, but I had hardly any side effects, and then found out about this forum so I can afford whatever dose works.
Currently 69.9kg so bmi is 25.06, so 200 grams away from being in the normal weight range. Appetite is fairly well controlled on 15mg of tiz plus about 4mg reta/week and 1.5iu of hgh. Hopefully this time I can keep the weight off.

 

[CrownJewels]

Started with a BMI of 61, now i am at 31. Had bariatric surgery and now I am helping with GLP medication, wanting to get under 30 and still have the loose skin which has to be removed.

 

[tubby]

It's probably worth noting that (at a very basic level) bariatric surgery and GLP1 meds are doing the exact opposite thing, so it's really apples and oranges here.

Surgery is believed to work primarily by severing the vagal nerve, such that incretin gut hormones in your stomach are no longer able to provide a signal to your brain.

Meanwhile, GLP1s work by providing an amped up signal (of select hormones) that gets relayed to your brain (among other places).

GroundBison's result is especially interesting, since it is consistent with what one would expect to see using both methods simultaneously, with the result being cumulative.

 

[Batscout]

I am female and over 50 yers old. I started Tirz at a BMI of 33.9 on Labor Day of 2023. I met my BMI goal of 21.3 in January 2025 and have maintained the BMI or dropped lower since that date. I am now at a BMI of 18.4 and I have been holding here for months. My current struggles are to find the right maintenance dose without dropping to a lower BMI. I like where I currently am but need to add muscle.

 

[hexagonal]

Male, mid 30s

Starting BMI 39.9 / FFMI 18.9
Lowest post-GLP-1 BMI 25.8 / FFMI 22.5

Roughly 120lb of fat lost and 20lb of lbm gained during that period.

I started bulking after that point so I'm not maintaining weight, but I never intended to.

 

[Grogu]

However, one disappointing result of these studies is that maximum weight loss seems to be limited for bariatric surgery patients. For example, see Weight Loss Prediction after Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The easiest equation to use there is Minimum BMI = Initial-BMI * 0.43 + 11. It also links a calculator that can be used to get

I had gastric bypass in 2003 and lost more than the equation would have predicted. I started with a BMI of 47 and lowest after surgery was about a BMI of 29. I think that that the equation would have predicted a BMI of 31. So, not too much off. I eventually got to a BMI of 25, but through diet and exercise maybe a decade after surgery.

Fast forward 21 years after surgery and my BMI increased to 42. Equation would predict weight loss to 29 BMI. I’m 1 year on tirzepatide and my BMI is 30. Still want to get to BMI of 25, but the equation is oddly fitting here too. I’ve lost 27% of my starting weight on tirzepatide so far, which is more than the clinical studies would suggest.

 

[dogmom]

So I did the calculations.

My BMI in 2011 was 53.3. I had wls in December 2011. I lost down to a bmi of 28.2 by 2013.

Between 2013 and 2022, I had regained 55lbs. So my bmi was 37.1 in 2022.

In the fall of 2022, I was 37.1 and started my first glp1 med. Last week in December 2025, my BMI was 22.9.

So from the start of my weight loss journey almost 15 years ago I've went from a bmi of 53.3 to 22.9. But it was a combination of WLS and glp1.

 

[dogmom]

Also when I had WLS my surgeon was honest about realistic weight loss. He said most people don't lose all their weight and keep it off. He said a good result would to be to lose 75% of your excess weight and expect some regain around the 5 year mark.

The surgeon I went to didn't just do surgery he also wrote in medical journals which is why I chose him.

 

[Grogu]

In the fall of 2022, I was 37.1 and started my first glp1 med. Last week in December 2025, my BMI was 22.9.

Congrats on the 22.9, that's fantastic. I'm hoping I can get there!

 

[Um.ok.fine]

would you guys suggest/recommend the WLS? i know it looks like there was some regain over the decades that have made most of you turn to the GLPs as another option. I've lost 60 pounds so far and have a BMI of about 36 but the peptides I've tried in the last few years have stopped working and ive started to gain again. I'm looking to start a new stack and do litttttcherally anything to get back down again, and i'm at the point where i'm going to consider WLS i think.

would you do it again knowing what you know now?

 

[Vash_]

I don't know what my BMI was but, I went from 260+ down to 163. May have actually been in the 270's at one point but, I wasn't getting on a scale to find out.
I started by cutting out soda. Then added exercise, then added intermittent fasting, then started counting calories, then added an extended fast once a month.
Got to the point where I was fasting for 20 hours a day, eating under 1500 calories, and exercising 4-5 times a week. Weight lifting and cycling/mtb.
Currently sitting at 200 since getting more serious in the weight room and adding test to the mix.

 

[dogmom]

would you guys suggest/recommend the WLS? i know it looks like there was some regain over the decades that have made most of you turn to the GLPs as another option. I've lost 60 pounds so far and have a BMI of about 36 but the peptides I've tried in the last few years have stopped working and ive started to gain again. I'm looking to start a new stack and do litttttcherally anything to get back down again, and i'm at the point where i'm going to consider WLS i think.

would you do it again knowing what you know now?

I would do WLS again with no question. Without it, I know I would have gained back everything and more. I know some people do regain everything and more even with WLS. But that is why you have to be knowledgeable about the type of surgery and your surgeon. I had VSG and I knew my surgeon made his pouches pretty small. I also knew the stomach would stretch out over the years. Some surgeons are scared to go too small and don't cut off enough.

At your BMI you wouldn't qualify for DS, and there is another name they call it now, I think SADI? I wouldn't recommend RNY but it is an option out there. Everyone I know who has had RNY has had issues.